Denver’s 16th Street Mall shuttle may soon have a companion bus several blocks away. RTD board members have approved a free Downtown Circulator, which would initially run between Union Station and Civic Center Station and later to the Denver Art Museum. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)

Officials are hoping a North Carolina bus maker will be able to produce a new generation of 16th Street Mall shuttles even though the company recently declared bankruptcy.

The Regional Transportation District earlier this year agreed to spend over $21 million for 32 shuttle buses from DesignLine.

The new buses were to replace 36 TransTeq mall buses bought in 1999 and now wearing out.

But last month, a U.S. bankruptcy judge ordered the assets of DesignLine to be auctioned off after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August.

A spokesman for DesignLine could not be reached for comment.

RTD board chairwoman Lorraine Anderson said Monday the agency is waiting to see if DesignLine can emerge as a viable entity from Chapter 11 status.

“Chapter 11 protects them from losing contracts,” Anderson said. “They may be able to work their way out of it. If they can deliver our buses, we shouldn’t see too much of a delay.”

“If not,” Anderson said. “we will look for other options.”

TransTeq has gone out of business, and DesignLine was given board approval largely because it was one of the few companies in the country that manufactured mall shuttles.

RTD also praised the performance of two DesignLine prototypes introduced in 2011.

Still, RTD board members Natalie Menten and Paul Solano voted against the DesignLine contract, saying there were too many questions about the company’s performance. DesignLine lost three contracts in 2011, including one for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City, because of missed deadlines and operational problems.

“When I heard about the bankruptcy, I just said, ‘I told you so,’ ” Menten said. “I thought their problems were pretty obvious.”